Rail clip



Jan. 30, 1968 R. s. BAKER 3,366,335

RAIL CLIP Filed Sept; 19, 1966 T205521" S. B AKER.

ma gwfiw (fummaa ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,366,335 RAIL CLIP Robert S. Baker, Tampa, Fla., assignor to Julian L. Cone, Jr., Charles W. Cone, and Douglas P. Cone, all of Tampa, Fla.

Filed Sept. 19, 1966, Ser. No. 580,300 3 Claims. (Cl. 238349) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Rail clips to secure a rail on a crosstie wherein the gage clip is a two-part clip having a rigid unit, to abut a stop on the crosstie and the rail to prevent movement of the rail in a gage direction, and a spring unit, held in yielding abutment with the top of the rail bottom flange to allow rail wave action while preventing down rail run, and the field clip is a rigid member in abutment with a stop on the crosstie and with the rail, to prevent movement of the rail in a field direction, and has a lip overhanging the rail base flange in spaced relation to allow limited vertical rail movement.

This invention relates to clips for holding rail in place on crossties, and particularly to clips for holding rail upon prestressed concrete crossties where the clips are attached to the crossties by means of bolts threaded into anchors embedded in the concrete.

When a train passes along a track, it creates a condition in the rail known as wave action. This causes an actual wave of measurable amplitude to pass down the rail, with actual lifting and depression of the rail. If the rail is rigidly attached to the ties, the entire track structure (rails and ties) will be caused to rise and fall as the wave passes down the rail. This will cause pumping of the ties in the ballast, which is undesirable, and also places very high stresses on the clip attaching bolts and embedded anchors.

There is another rail movement which must be considered in securing the rail to crossties, particularly when welded rail is used (that is, rail sections welded together to form a continuous monolithic length), and this is the tendency of the rail to move, or run, in a down-rail direction, caused by thermal and mechanical forces. This tendency of the rail to run must be restrained with a force suflicient to about equal that required to move the tie in the ballast.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a clip which will hold the rail absolutely to gage, yet allow the rail some vertical movement to permit wave action with little movement of the crossties, while restraining the rail against down-rail run.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of a clip which can be used on both the field and gage sides of a rail, or as a gage clip in combination with a specially designed field clip which will hold the rail to gage while allowing some unrestrained vertical movement.

Another object is to provide a two-part clip, with one part holding the rail to gage and the other restraining the rail against down-rail run while allowing restrained vertical movement.

A further object of the invention is to provide a clip for rails which will hold the rail against lateral movement, with all pressure by the rail against the clip being resisted by the crosstie without strain upon the securing bolt or anchor.

Yet a further object is to provide a rail clip having spring means to tension the rail, with means to automatically set the tension to the required degree when the clip is bolted to a crosstie.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of one practical embodiment thereof, when taken in conjunction with the drawings which accompany, and form part of, this specification.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of one end of a crosstie with a rail seated thereon and held in place by a combination of clips, the one on the gage side being the clip of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged vertical section through the structure shown in FIGURE 1, taken on the line 22 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is an exploded perspective view of the crosstie, rail, and securing means.

In general, the invention concerns clips for use in securing a rail to a concrete tie so as to allow the rail free wave action yet hold it absolutely to gage and restrain it against down-rail run.

Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown a rail 1 mounted upon a crosstie 2. The rail 1 may be of the usual sectional length, or in the more common form used in present day installation the so-called welded rail, wherein the sections are welded together to form a continuous mono-lithic length. The tie 2 is of the prestressed concrete type having pre-formed rail seats 3 and embedded anchors 4. As is customary in mounting rails on concrete crossties, a plastic tie pad 5 having its ends notched, as shown at 6, is put upon the rail seat 3 and the rail rests upon the pad.

The rail is shown as held in place upon the tie by means of a rigid field clip 7 on the outer, or field, side of the rail, and a combination clip 8 consisting of a gage plate 9 and a spring clip 10 on the inner, or gage, side of the rail. Although both clips may be of the combination type 8, and the rigid field clip 7 is the invention of another, the mounting with a set of clips 7 and 8 will be described in detail herein so that their combined action on the rail, may be understood. 7

Field clip 7 is made from a steel plate, and has a generally horizontal body section 11, with a depressed, curved heel 12 at one end. At the opposite end of the body the plate rises vertically to provide an abutment flange 13, and the clip terminates in a forwardly extending toe 14. The body portion of the clip has a central opening 15 through which the reduced diameter lower end of a shoulder bolt 16 passes.

Rail seat 3 in the crosstie terminates on the outside in a concave, transversely extending pocket 17, while the seat terminates on the inside in a curved shoulder 18. After a rail is in place on the tie pad 5, a rigid clip 7 will be seated on the rail seat with its body portion 11 resting on the seat. Heel 12 of the clip will have the curved shape of pocket 17 and will fit closely within the pocket. The clip is so proportioned that abutment flange 13 will be in bearing contact with the outside base of the rail when the heel is seated in the pocket. At this time, toe 14 will be overlying the upper surface of the base flange of the rail, in spaced relation with that surface, and extending parallel to it. In order to accomplish this, the toe -14 must incline from the abutment 13 at the same angle as the upper surface of the base flange of the rail. When the clip is in this position, shoulder bolt 16 is inserted through opening 14 and its lower end 19 threaded into the anchor 4. Bolt 16 is screwed into anchor 4 until the shoulder 20 of the bolt is in contact with the body 11 of the field clip and is pressing the body firmly against the rail seat of the crosstie. The clip will now be held firmly in place with the abutment 13 in contact with the base edge of the rail. This will hold the rail against outward movement yet, due to the spacing of toe 14 from the rail base, the rail is free to rise the distance required by the wave action. It will be seen that outward forces exerted by the rail against the abutment flange will be tnansmitted directly through the body of the clip to the heel, seated in pocket 17, and to the tie. Thus, there is no strain imposed upon the bolt 16.

Combination inner clip 8 has gage plate 9 to resist lateral inward movement of the rail, and spring clip 10 to restrain the rail against longitudinal running and yieldingly hold the rail in its seat. It will be noted that the spring clip 10 has a curved end 21 which seats against the curved shoulder 18 of the rail seat in the crosstie, and an elongated flexible lip 22 arching from the curved end to bear upon the flange of the rail. The gage plate has a vertical abutment flange 23 and an inverted V- shaped body 24, having one section 25 adjacent the abutment flange 23 and a second section 26 having its end 27 seated against the inner wall of the curved end 21 of the spring clip. Spring clip 10 has a bolt hole 2-8 through the flexible lip portion 22, and gage plate 9 has a bolt hole 29 at the vertex of the V-shaped body at the juncture of the sections 25 and 26. A bolt 30 through these openings threads in the anchor 4 to hold the parts in proper position. It will be seen that the gage plate is held against movement lengthwise of the tie by reason of its bearing against the curved section of spring clip 10 which, in turn, is in engagement with shoulder 18 of the tie. The clip elements are so proportioned that there will be a slight clearance between the abutment flange 23 and the base of the rail. Tightening bolt 30 will cause the flexible lip 22 of spring clip 10 to bear upon the rail flange with suflicient force to resist its tendency to run in a down rail direction.

As pointed out above, the vertex of the inverted V- shaped body 24 of the gage plate is at the center of the bolt hole 29. Thus, as bolt 30 is tightened spring clip .10 will be brought into contact with the gage plate at the juncture of the sections 25 and 26, to hold the gage plate down, yet provide little frictional contact between the gage plate and spring to retard the spring action. At the same time, the gage plate will be so proportion that when the bolt 30 is tightened to bring the spring clip into contact with the gage plate the spring lip 22 will have the desired tensioning pressure upon the rail base. This can be readily calculated.

When the set of clips is in place, the rail is held against appreciable movement in a lateral direction and, therefore, will be held accurately to gage. It will be noted that there can be no movement of the rail in a field direction. At the same time, the rail is free to move vertically, insofar as the field clip 7 is concerned, and will be held down yieldably by the spring clip 10. Thus, the rail can move vertically to accommodate normal wave action yet be held to gauge during this movement. At the same time, the tendency of the rail to creep, or run, in a down rail direction is resisted by the pressure of the spring clip upon the rail flange. This downward resistant force will be sulficient to .hold the rail against movementlongitudinally without simultaneous lateral shifting of the crosstie. This is sufficient to prevent any longitudinal movement of the rail relative to the crosstie.

While the rail clip of this invention has been described as used in combination with a rigid field clip, which is the invent-ion of W. C. McCormick and is claimed in an application filed by him, a combination clip 8 may be used on both sides of the rail. In this case, the gage plates of the two units will hold the rail against lateral movement, either outwardly or inwardly, and both spring clips will serve to restrain the rail againstrunning. The rail, although yieldably restrained, can still move vertically to accommodate wave act-ion.

While in the above one practical embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it will be understood that the specific details of construction shown and described are merely by way of illustration and the invention may take other forms within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A clip for securing a rail to a concrete crosstie having a rail seat with shoulders at the ends of the rail seat and threaded anchors in the seat comprising, a gage plate and a spring clip, the spring clip having means to seat against a shoulder on the rail seat of the crosstie and a lip to overlie the base of a rail on the seat, the gage plate having means against which the rail may abut to prevent lateral movement of the rail toward the said shoulder and means for engagement with the means on the spring clip seated against the shoulder, and a bolt through the spring clip and gage plate for threaded engagement with an anchor on the crosstie to fix the clip to the crosstie.

2. A clip for securing a rail to a crosstie as claimed in claim 1 wherein, the lip on the spring clip is flexible.

3. A clip for securing a rail to a crosstie as claimed in claim 2 wherein the means on the gage plate against which the rail may abut is a vertical flange, and the plate has a body joined to the flange having an end for engagement with the shoulder-engaging means on the spring clip and means on the body for contact with the flexible lip of the spring clip to determine the tension of the lip on the base rail when the bolt is tightened in the anchor.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,206,123 9/ 1965 Baker 238349 3,223,328 12/1965 'Moses et al 238349 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner. R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner, 

